By Steve Birdlebough, Redwood Chapter Transportation Chair
Rising sea levels combined with king tides and rainstorms last winter to flood a busy highway that skirts the northern margins of San Pablo Bay. For 25 days during January and February, 2017 traffic at the west end of Highway 37 had to be rerouted, while CalTrans spent millions of dollars to rebuild levees and raise parts of the roadway.
Two highways (Routes 37 & 12/116/121) and a railroad connect people and businesses in Marin and Sonoma counties with those to the East. These routes cross wetlands and farmlands between US-101 and I-80 that provide habitat for wildlife and visual splendor for visitors. The environmental challenges here foretell the future for other parts of the Bay Area. The road traverses parts of three counties, and there is no public transportation between Novato and Vallejo.
In 2016, a private company (United Bridge Partners– UBP) formally proposed to acquire the 9-mile highway right-of-way between Sears Point and Mare Island, and build a toll causeway that would provide elevated traffic lanes. The Solano Transportation Authority recently authorized itself to become a lead agency for the project east of Sears Point.
In a joint letter to the State Route 37 Policy Committee formed by Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties to review the UBP proposal, the Redwood and San Francisco Bay chapters of the Sierra Club have recommended that efforts be made to keep the entire corridor in public hands.
The letter also urges that any project should:
- Maintain tidal flows into and out of the marshes along the Corridor by placing the road on bridges or causeways that permit water and wildlife to move freely. Sound attenuating measures should be used to reduce the noise impacts of elevating traffic. Roads and trails that afford access to the wetlands should be preserved and prudently extended.
- Recognize that a focus on moving people rather than automobiles is the most effective and economical way to deal with traffic congestion. Develop travel options such as van, bus, ferry or rail services in addition to single-occupant vehicles. It has been observed that creation of a new roadway lane usually attracts new drivers, so that without adequate traffic management, the intensity of traffic returns quickly to its previous congestion, with additional greenhouse gas emissions.
- Recognize that it could take several years to obtain needed permits and construct a causeway. In the intervening years, manage existing traffic by giving preference to car pools, and provide bus, and van services to reduce delays.
It has been observed that the environmental approval process for this project could be complex. However, by building on studies already performed for earlier projects, and by addressing environmental issues early, the complexity may be reduced.
Sierra Club members can remind the Chairs of the Policy Committee (David Rabbitt) and the Solano Transportation Authority (Jim Spering) about the importance of public access to wetlands and other natural habitat, as well as needs to minimize traffic noise and offset increased greenhouse gas emissions.